Thursday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m.: Glenn Hurowitz, president of the Democratic Courage political action committee, will read from his new book, "Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party." The book reveals the little-known history of how the same foundations and corporations that engineered the right-wing takeover of the Republican Party used junk political science to move Democrats to the right as well. Drawing on ground-breaking political science research, Hurowitz tackles the "little tin gods" of the Democratic Party to argue that when it comes to winning votes, "issues don't matter," "politicians should only pander to people who care" and tackles what he calls the "wimp love myth." Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m.: Portsmouth writers Pat Remick and Frank Cook will read from two anthologies of crime stories by New England Writers. Remick's story, "Mercy 101," a fictional tale of grief and revenge, was selected from among 116 submissions to receive the prestigious Al Blanchard Award, an honor given annual at the New England Crime Bake conference of mystery writers and readers. Cook's story, "Liberty," was published last year in Level Best's 2006 anthology entitled "Seasmoke," which also featured 23 stories. It also was his first published work of fiction, although he has written two non-fiction professional development books and co-authored two others with Remick. Thursday, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.: Jonah Lehrer, the 26-year-old author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," is editor at large for SEED magazine. A graduate of Columbia University and a Rhodes scholar, Lehrer has worked in the lab of Nobel Prizewinning neuroscientist Eric Kandel and studied with Hermione Lee at Oxford. He's also written for Nature, NPR and NOVA ScienceNow. He even worked as a line cook for three years in Los Angeles and NYC at Le Cirque 2000 and Le Bernardin, which inspired his chapter on Escoffier. Lehrer writes a well-trafficked blog, 'The Frontal Cortex': http://scienceblogs.com/cortex. He lives in Concord. Sunday, Jan. 13 at 2 p.m.: Current Portsmouth Poet Laureate Elizabeth Knies will give a poetry reading with former poet laureate Mimi White. Knies will read from her latest chapbook, "Going and Coming Back," published in 2007 by Oyster River Press. It's a companion to Robert Dunn's "Je Ne Regrette Rien." White will read as well and have copies for sale of her two chapbooks: "The Singed Horizon" and "Into The Darkness We Go." Tuesday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.: New Hampshire award-winning mystery/suspense writer Brendan DuBois will read and sign copies of "Twilight," a first-person account of a Canadian member of a U.N. inspection team investigating war crimes. New Hampshire DuBois is a former newspaper reporter and a lifelong resident of New Hampshire, where he lives with his wife Mona, their hell-raising cat Roscoe, and one happy English Springer Spaniel named Tucker. Sunday, Jan. 20 at 5 p.m.: New Hampshire poet Walter Butts will read and sign from his latest chapbook, "What To Say if the Birds Ask," just out from Pudding House Publications (www.puddinghouse.com), a literary press of long standing, based in Columbus, Ohio. The collection is a sequence of recent poems centering around themes of memory, family, friendship, secular faith, and our relationship to the natural world, examined within the context of contemporary human experience. First Monday of each month at 7 p.m.: RiverRun Bookstore Discussion Group meets at RiverRun's used bookstore, SecondRun, 7 Commercial Alley, downtown Portsmouth. At 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7, the group will discuss Dave Eggers' "What Is The What." All are welcome. Friday, Jan. 18 at 6:30 p.m.: Trivia Night at SecondRun Bookstore in Commercial Alley, Portsmouth. Come test your wits! Monday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m.: Scrabble Night at SecondRun Bookstore. Bring a board, some friends, or just yourself and play the best board game ever with other Scrabble enthusiasts.

Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 7 p.m.: The Fiction Reading Group will discuss Sara Gruen's book, "Water for Elephants." Our February pick is "Wonder When You'll Miss Me" by Amanda Davis. New members are always welcome.

Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1 p.m.: Local author and veterinarian Monica Mansfield will sign her book "The Black Panties: Tales of Animal Mischief and Veterinary Intrigue."

Saturday, Jan. 19 at 1 p.m.: Local author and raconteur Dennis Robinson will discuss and sign copies of his terrific new book, "Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making."

Sunday, Jan. 20 at 11 a.m.: Join Barnes & Noble for a special storytime with one of Maines most beloved children's book authors, Lynn Plourde. She will read and sign copies of her latest book, "At One: In a Place Called Maine."

Tuesday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m.: The Non-Fiction Book Group will discuss "Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides." Our pick for February is "My Life in France" by Julia Child. New members are always welcome.

Thursday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.: The special guest for Homeschooling Night will be Portsmouth Herald food editor Rachel Forrest and she will discuss writing for a newspaper and how to write a restaurant review.

Saturday, Jan. 26 at 1 p.m.: Local author Maren Tirabassi will sign copies of her latest book, "Caring for Ourselves, While Caring for Our Elders."

Sunday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m.: Salem State University professor of History, Emerson W. Baker will discuss and sign copies of "The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England." Learn about the strange events which plagued the town of Great Island (present-day New Castle), demonic noises, strange movement of objects and hundreds of stones which rained upon a local tavern.

Saturday, Feb. 2 at 4 p.m.: Join Barnes & Noble for "It's a Secret" — an activity event drawn from "The Dangerous Book for Boys." Learn the secrets of coin tricks, the keys to cracking codes and more. Fun for kids 8 to 12, call 422-7733 with questions.

Storytimes with special crafts will resume in January, every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Every Thursday, we will now hold a Toddler storytime for all infants and toddlers! Please join us for storytimes filled with singing, finger plays and wonderful books.

LOCAL AUTHOR REBECCA RULE INTERVIEWS MEREDITH HALL, bestselling author and University of New Hampshire professor of English, before a live audience at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27 in the UNH library's 5th Floor Reading Room. The program is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. To reserve a space, visit www.library.unh.edu/friends/calendar.htm, e-mail nh.authors@unh.edu or call 862-1541. Hall's first book, a memoir titled "Without a Map," was included on the New York Times Extended Bestseller List. She was the 2005 recipient of the Gift of Freedom Award, a $50,000 writing grant from A Room of Her Own Foundation.

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